Live on £4,000 for a year - 2009, Part 4

FrankieM

Morning,
Just sitting down with a cuppa. I've got house cleaning to do today. DH is away so its much easier to get on with it.
DD1 has mock GCSE's and she finishes today at 11:30am and wants a lift home to I'll do that and then op into town to go to the library and pick a few things from Tesco's that aren't going to last as long as I would like.
I'm finally getting paid on Friday..Its only £64 but I've been budgeting for it and so I'm £64 short!
DD2 has gone away with DH. I miss her already. I don't have favourites but she is more like me than my other children so I find er really easy to spend time with, if that makes sense?

So tea tonight is refritos, or refried beans in chapatas and I'm going to try my hand at a sponge pudding thing that you do in the microwave, will probably serve it with custard cause I have loads of that.
I was thinking that erhaps I should start using powdered milk for cooking/baking. Do you make it up into liquid first?

Sorry you're not getting to Ikea mooloo I love it there, though DH always spends a fortune, but the hotdogs and icecreams at the end are our favourite!

Hope you feel better soon skintlynne

In regards to LEDs I couldn't find any on the ASDA website. Don't know whether its worth looking in the store. I don't actually have the cash for them until payday anyway. It would be easy to think 'I'll just pop them on the CC and pay them off when DH gets paid' but I'm trying really hard to use the money we have available only, so I've got a week or so to decide!

Hope you all have a good day.

grandma247

SL :T:T well done with the laptop especially the cash part.

Frankie I don't think powdered milk is a cheap option anymore unless you got it from approved foods.
If you use it for custard you can put the powder in the jug with the custard powder and sugar if making it from scratch and make a paste with some of the water then slowly add the rest of the water. I then put it in the microwave and zap it for 2-3 min first,stir like mad then do another 2-3 min. I check to see if it looks right and then give it another min or so if it is not quite done (I usually find milk straight from the fridge needs a bit longer).

shaz_mum_of__2

Value instant custard (just add boiling water)is cheaper than milk!!

FrankieM

Yes, I've successfully used it before, but some friends moved abroad and gave me their 'storecupboard' which seemed to have lots of custard powder so I currently have 3 tins to get through....I don't mind. Is UHT milk a cheaper way of doing it. That and powdered milk must be cheaper than fresh...

the_cat

Frankie - they have half price Phillips lightbulbs in Homebase ATM - loads of different types. Might be worth a check on their website

cw18

Well, I've blown my 'anything else' budget today with absolute necessities :mad:

Just going to have to hope I can recoup the £13.63 overspend (plus anything else I need that falls into there before the end of the month) from my petrol budget....... But as I still have enough in that for almost 2 tanks of fuel (and haven't topped up since 9th Oct) it should be easily do-able as long as nothing else crops up in any other category


No way was my car going to start this morning, and I just about drained my jump-start box in my attempts to get it going. Ended up banging the box onto charge, walking down to collect GDs, catching a bus back which cost me £1.50 (free for GDs as younger one is under 5 and elder one has a bus pass I grabbed from my DD) so that we weren't tooooo late for school (actually got them into the cloakroom area as the last of their classmates were hanging up coats, so success there although they have got a 'late' mark due to having to enter school through the office), then home to see what I could do with the car.

Managed to get it started with my box (think the air had warmed up a bit - today's the second morning of windscreen scraping, but I didn't need to use the car when it was like this last week), and ran it straight round to the garage. They confirmed the battery was 'goosed', so £55.09 for a new one

Yet another reason for having a 'contingency fund' category in my accounts for next year, as I had nothing/nil/zero/zilch put aside for car repairs this year........


My spreadsheet shows that after all my Direct Debits finish going out this month I have £148.28 left, which includes £73.62 in my grocery budget -- so if I can resist any more Whoopsies until the end of next week I may also be able to scrape some back from there

(Hoping to convince DSs to swing by Mr M after 3:30pm on Christmas Eve to see what meat is being cleared - but need to make some space in the freezer first. Want them to do the same on New Years Eve too if possible. I can't do either myself as the store closes at 5pm, and I'm working until 5:30pm on 24th and 5pm on 31st!)

shaz_mum_of__2

Anyone know the best time for xmas eve bargains? fancy filling the freezer with seasonal whoopsies.......Mr A probably if that helps

cw18

I've been told at work (small Mr M) that it's frantic reduction cycles during the last hour. We're normally not allowed to start reductions in our area (bakery) until 1pm, but I don't know if that will be brought forward a bit as we're closing at 5pm instead of the normal 9pm for a Friday

thriftylass

Looking forward to tonight. Got the house to myself as BF has his christmas do. So my plan is to crochet, do the housework and do a cupboard inventory and make a list of things to stock up on. I also want to make a birthday and present list for next year (had that planned last year but it never happened). Tomorrow is my last day at work (well half day plus another christmas lunch , cannae wait.

It's snowing outside :j:snow_grin

FrankieM

Went into Tesco and managed to only spend £10.68. I think its cause I had my DD1 with me. I couldn't sneak anything into the trolley to eat later so just stuck to the list. So after I get paid tomorrow I will have approx. £69 until 1st Jan. I may have to use some of that for fuel to pick up DH's Gran or when we go to see his sister so I'll keep it safe just in case. Though I do like the idea of picking up some food bargains on Christmas eve.